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Monday, July 13, 2015

Mad science

...according to ongoing research that offers a solid scientific basis for Japanese farming lore.

As part of a four-year study, scientists in northern Japan have been bombarding a variety of mushrooms in lab-based garden plots with artificially induced lightning to see if electricity actually makes the fungi multiply.

(See pictures of Brazilian mushrooms that glow in the dark.)

The latest results show that lightning-strength jolts of electricity can more than double the yield of certain mushroom species compared with conventional cultivation methods.

"We have tried these experiments with ten types of mushroom so far and have found that it is effective in eight species," said Koichi Takaki, an associate professor in engineering at Iwate University.

It's interesting, I spose, but what I really want to see is videos of Japanese scientists with a lot of sticky-outy hair, wearing goggles and yelling "THROW THE SWITCH!!"

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